Electrostatographic copying machine

ABSTRACT

An electrostatographic reproduction machine for producing permanent copies of engineering drawings or the like. A photoconductive drum is rotated past various processing stations including a charging station, an exposure station for exposing documents to be reproduced, a transfer station at which electrostatic images are transferred from the drum member onto sheets of paper. The drum is cleaned and recycled for producing multiple prints of the same document or different prints of different documents. The copies are delivered to the front or rear of the machine after being permanently fixed by a fusing apparatus. The documents are directed to the front or rear of the machine at the option of the machine operator. One of the document paths intersects with one of the copy paths and an electrical control circuit is provided to prevent documents being delivered to the rear when copies should be delivered to the front.

United States Patent Bendall et al.

[ 1 Feb. 11, 1975 ELECTROSTATOGRAPl-IIC COPYING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Dennis M. Bendall, Coleford;

William R. Harris, Tutshill, near Chepstow; Peter Summers, Coleford; Raymond S. Pyart, Churchdown; Jeffrey Kew, Upton Saint Leonards; Michael C. D. Sherborne, Marlborough; Alistair J. Caldwell, Drybrook; Peter M. Thorp, Lydbrook; John A. Jones, Coleford, all of England [73] Assignee: Rank Xerox Ltd., London, England [22] Filed: June 19, 1973 [2]] Appl. No.: 371,654

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 23, 1972 Great Britain 29653 [52] US. Cl. 355/14, 355/3 R, 355/3 DD, 355/11, 355/13, 355/15, 355/57 [51] Int. Cl G03g 15/00 [58] Field of Search 355/3, 8, 14, 56, 57, 11, 355/13, 15

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,597,074 8/1971 Murgas 355/8 X Primary Examiner-Richard M. Sheer [57] ABSTRACT An electrostatographic reproduction machine for producing permanent copies of engineering drawings or the like. A photoconductive drum is rotated past various processing stations including a charging station, an exposure station for exposing documents to be reproduced, a transfer station at which electrostatic images are transferred from the drum member onto sheets of paper. The drum is cleaned and recycled for producing multiple prints of the same document or different prints of different documents. The copies are delivered to the front or rear of the machine after being permanently fixed by a fusing apparatus. The documents are directed to the front or rear of the machine at the option of the machine operator. One of the document paths intersects with one of the copy paths and an electrical control circuit is provided to prevent documents being delivered to the rear when copies should be delivered to the front.

3 Claims, 40 Drawing Figures PATENTEU FEB] 1 I975 SHEEI OlUF 33 PATENTED FEB] 1 I975 sum 13 0F 33 PATENTEU FEB] 1 m5 SHEEI 050F133 PM EHTEU FEB 1 1 I975 SHEET O8UF 33 PATENTED FEB] 1 I975 sum 100F 33 PATENTEUFEBI 1 I975 I saw 1 33 PATENTED FEB] U SHEET 12UF 33 llllllllilllull PATENTEUFEBI 1 I975 SHEET 13UF 33 PMENTEU FEB] I I975 SHEET 1M]? 33 Q wt PATENTED FEB? 1 F975 SHEU lSUF 33 PATENTED FEB] 1 I975 sum 18UF 33 mw wt MN wt 

1. An electrophotographic reproducing machine comprising an electrophotographic member mounted for movement past copying processing stations including charging means for applying a charge to the surface thereof, a document handler means for feeding a document to be copied past an exposure slit at a predetermined speed, said document handler means including means for reversing the document and re-feeding it past the slit repeatedly to produce a plurality of copies, an optical system comprising means for illuminating the document as it is fed past said exposure slit, and for forming an image of the document at the slit on said electrophotographic surface, said optical system incorporating a lens and mirror means causing an electrostatic latent image of the document to be formed on said surface in a selected one of a plurality of predetermined image sizes, a copy material feeder means for feeding copy material towards said electrophotographic surface including means to cut a sheet of material from a roll of the copy material with a length proportional to the length of said document to be copied, and alternative means for feeding pre-cut sheets of copy material, and registration with the leading edge of the image in said surface, means for developing the electrostatic latent image on the said electrophotographic surface, means for transferring the developed image to said copy material sheet, means for cleaning said surface, means for fixing the developed image on the copy sheets, means for delivering the copy sheets bearing the fixed image to the front or rear of the machine, said document handler means includes means defining a front and rear document path and means for delivering said document along one of said paths to the front or rear of the machine at the option of a machine operator, said means for delivering said copy sheets includes means defining a front and rear copy path and means for transporting said copy sheets to the front or to the rear of the machine, and said document path to the rear of the machine intersecting the copy sheet path to the front of the machine, and circuit means to prevent the document from being delivered to the rear if the copy sheets are delivered to the front.
 2. The machine of claim 1, wherein said circuit means comprises a document exit selection switch and a copy exit selection switch, the document exit switch actuating a document direction selecting device, and the copy exit selection switch actuating a copy direction selecting device, the copy exit selection switch being operable to direct the copy sheets to the front only if the document exit selection switch has been operated to select the front exit.
 3. A machine according to claim 1 including circuit means to de-energize said charging means during the document reversing direction. 